


Sugar, we're going down (swinging)

by PastyPirate



Series: My Yesterday was Blue, Today I'm a Part of You [4]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Rock Band, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Romantic Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-07
Updated: 2016-04-07
Packaged: 2018-05-31 21:37:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6488275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PastyPirate/pseuds/PastyPirate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The feud is definitely not Leo’s fault. </p><p>No matter what Percy, Jason, Nico and Hazel say. </p><p>It’s most definitely not his fault. </p><p>In which the Bassist of Demi gets into a feud with the Pop Icon Calypso, It's a love story told in hashtags and youtube videos.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sugar, we're going down (swinging)

The feud is definitely not Leo’s fault. 

No matter what Percy, Jason, Nico and Hazel say. 

It’s most definitely not his fault. 

“So you think that calling her a trumped up legacy didn’t start it?” Jason asked, swaying with the RV as he drank his coke. 

“She insulted my music,” Leo curled up tighter in his seat, wishing he hadn’t been forced to give up the wheel to Percy. “She was insulting all of our music.”

Even with his shades on, Leo could see Jason rolling his eyes. 

Okay, maybe Leo had started it, but _she_ had managed to find Leo’s one weak spot and jabbed it with (what he assumed was) a perfectly manicured finger. Of course he was going to snap back. 

“All she said is that you were a newcomer to music.” Jason shoved his shades up into his hair, causings artful spikes, “and that you were doing new and different things.”

“I’m with Leo on this one, she was being indirectly nasty.” Hazel strode out of the back, the queen room that she got to herself- not that Leo was jealous. 

“Thank you _Hazel_ ” Leo sat up, “wait she was?”

“Oh yeah, she was definitely being a bully.” Hazel sat next to Leo, patting him on his knee, “but I think it’s because she’s jealous of your talent.”

“Okay, mom, we can all agree though that Calypso definitely started it.” The RV jerked and they all bounced slightly, which felt vaguely ridiculous to Leo. A year ago he was struggling to get recognition as an inventor, and now he was in a band that was doing fairly well. Talk about life changes. 

“I don’t get it, Calypso is so nice!” Percy shouted back from where he was driving. 

“Well she didn’t seem nice.” Leo grumbled, picking up a straw to fiddle with, “she seemed mean to me.” 

“They’re calling it twittergate” Nico added from his bunk, shifting in his bed to look down at the rest of them. “Have I mentioned lately how much I hate that we have a twitter.”

“Yes, and we also have a tumblr, but that one I just reblog photos of kittens and no one gets mad at me.” He twisted the straw into a heart and handed it to Hazel. 

“Maybe you should just apologize.” Jason spoke cautiously, as if worried that Leo would turn into a raging hulk at the suggestion. 

“Yeah, good idea. Not going to do it.” Leo pulled out his phone, “Let’s recap.” 

Everyone, even Hazel, groaned at the suggestion, but Leo ignored them all. 

“So I, your delightful media agent-”

“That was not a thing before-” Nico added, but Leo ignored him. 

“I posted a remix of _I play dodgeball with Cannibals_ she says it’s basic and implies that my short time in the music industry-”

“We’ve all only been in the music industry for a short amount of time-” Hazel supplied helpfully. Not addressing the fact that the band was together for two to five years- depending on who you asked- before Leo joined it. 

“And I just replied that she has been in the music industry for so long, I mean her ancestors were the first people to create drums in the stone age I’m sure of it, that maybe she didn’t recognize true genius when she saw it. That’s all. No need for apology. This isn’t going to become a thing.”

No one responded, instead everyone shot each other looks. 

“Okay well, if it becomes a thing, I’ll apologize.”

_______________

The next morning Leo woke to Jason shoving his phone in Leo’s face. Which Leo responded to by flailing backwards and hitting his funny bone on the back of his bunk.

“What the hell?” Leo asked as he rubbed his arm and winced up at Jason.

“Calypso and Demi feud!” Jason read from his phone, “Last night, Leo Valdez of Demi and Calypso got into an epic bitch fest- their words not mine- on the worth of classic versus modern, pop versus rock.” 

“So?” Leo rolled out of his bed, feet landing heavily on the floor as he winced.

“It’s becoming a thing,” Jason narrowed his eyes at Leo, “we can’t become one of those bands who is always fighting with another band. Do you want to be Oasis?”

“Technically, Oasis always fought with itself,” Leo stepped around Jason, “we get along just fine.” 

“Just do something about this.” Jason followed Leo into the main cabin, where most of the group was already waiting. 

“I have an idea,” Leo handed his phone to Hazel, who already knew what to do. “Let’s take this shit to vine, Nico can I use your keyboard?”

“I want nothing to do with this,” Hazel shot Nico a concerned look, even Leo can see the subtext _play nice big brother_ , Nico rolled his eyes before saying “okay fine, just don’t break it.”

Leo ran his fingers through his hair, checking his reflection in the mirror to make sure that it didn’t look like he just woke up. He stole Jason's shades off the top of his head and slid them on “Alright, let’s do this.”

He sat down at the keyboard which was laying across the kitchen table, he waited for the go ahead from Hazel, and his fingers flew across the keyboard. He knew how to play piano for the same reason he knew how to play the bass and how to work a soundboard and produce music. He got bored one day and decided to master it. Granted the only instrument he had mastered was the bass, but he wasn’t terrible at the piano. 

He aimed to play the most complicated chunk of Beethoven’s _Moonlight Sonata_ that he knew. He counted the steps in his head before he jumped up and watched the video over Hazel’s shoulder. It didn’t sound horrible, although he was no Nico, and he didn’t look terrible either. He pulled his phone out of her hands and his fingers typed out a message. 

“Who says I don’t like classical? #thanksforthepianonico” he read out loud before sending it to the universe at large. 

“I’m pretty sure that’s the exact opposite of apologizing.” Jason frowned at the phone in Leo’s hand. 

“Who said I was apologizing?” Leo smirked, before failing to dodge out of the way of the pillow Jason lobbed at him. 

Chuckling Leo slid into the seat next to Percy, who was grinning and waiting for Leo to settle in before speaking “you shouldn't have done that.” 

“What? Been awesome?” Leo pushed the shades up into his hair, doing his best to emulate Jason.

“No, baited Calypso. She's a lot more badass than you think.“ Percy had a little half smile on his face as he spoke. Which made Leo want to punch him a little.

“I doubt it,” Leo grumbled, sinking into his seat with a half hearted glare at Percy. 

Leo was wrong. 

The next morning Leo was strolling through the comments on his video, which were thankfully generally positive ( _someone needs to buy DEMI more sunglasses!_ with a photoset of the whole band wearing Jason’s sunglasses at one point or another was his favorite comment, but he made a mental note that Nico wasn’t in the photoset and resolved to fix that later) when he saw it. 

Someone had commented with _OMG! CALYPSO HAS NO CHILL_ with a link to youtube. Stupidly, Leo clicked it, and found himself in deeper than he ever thought possible. 

It was a minute long video of Calypso sitting in what looked like a hotel lobby, one headphone in as she held up her phone to her face. Her cinnamon hair tied into an elegant but messy braid over one shoulder. There was no music, just her voice with the title _Who says I don’t like Modern?_

All that, Leo could’ve survived, it’s what she was singing that killed him. 

It took him a few views to take it all in, the first time he only caught the beat, the same beat he’d heard a million times on the radio, Eminem’s _Rap God_. But instead of the homophobic slurs and the self promotion of Eminem’s storied career, it was Calypso single handedly promoting herself and tearing Leo to _pieces_. All while keeping the beat and sounding more beautiful than anything Leo had ever heard before.

“Oh no that’s hot.” Leo muttered, under his breath as he hit play for the third time. 

“You are so screwed,” Percy hadn’t stopped smiling since the first play, “she _owned_ your ass.” 

“Oh no, oh no I am not!” Leo stood up, “This chick is going _down_ ”

_______________

Hyperfocus was Leo’s best friend as they trundled across the American Midwest. He opened fifty tabs as he did his research on his soon to be victim, and on the best way to destroy her.

Most of what he found were things he already knew. Calypso was a prodigy and a legacy. She won her first grammy at fifteen and had remained a constant fixture on the pop charts since. Her music was technically more edgy, her songs more dark and moody lately- which Leo found interesting. Most of her songs were about love, but the hopefulness seemed to be sucked out of them every single year that passed. As time passed she had more songs about the perils of being a woman (which he knew was many) and the struggle of life in the spotlight. 

She seemed to avoid autotuning like the plague, but other than that their musical tastes were exact opposites, and her minute long rendition and alteration of _Rap God_ were even more impressive in the wake of that knowledge. 

“Hey,” Leo jumped into the passenger seat as Jason annoyingly maintained the limit on the highway. “Would you hate it if we stopped for a couple hours?”

“I am not helping you with your feud Leo,” Jason shook his head, his sunglasses falling perfectly, which Leo found equal parts cool and annoying. 

“Come on! Do it for the laughs!” Leo frowned, “dude, she impugned my honor, in a _rap_. I can’t let this stand.”

“We should do it.” Nico said, materializing out of nowhere and making Leo jump, “It’s good for Leo’s image, plus it’s driving up videos of people playing piano.” 

Jason cast a glance backwards before groaning and changing lanes to get off at the next exit. Leo tried to high five Nico but Nico was already gone. 

Thirty minutes later Leo had managed to convince the music department at a local university to let him play with their instruments. It only took an hour of direction and another thirty minutes of practice- which his bandmates helpfully did nothing and watched while eating pizza- for him to get the basics down. Leo frankly wished he could spend all day playing with it, but they had a concert in Houston the next day. Between spending half the day mimicking youtube videos and the direction, he felt he was ready to get down to business. 

“Wait! Shit!” Leo grumbled, dashing around the instrument to grab Jason’s sunglasses off his head and shove them onto Nico’s face. 

“Seriously?” Nico shifted at the piano bench, “it’s bad enough-”

“Trust me bro!” Leo stumbled and ran back to the instrument, the teacher and student who had been helping him looked momentarily terrified. 

“Alright, go!” 

Hazel started with a close-up of Nico playing him in on the piano, before panning to Leo standing behind the Theremin. 

Leo summoned all of his strength to stay in time with Nico’s piano, as the two of them played a cover of Adele’s _Someone Like You_. Percy rushed to wipe pizza off his face before jumping in on his cue and singing the song. 

Leo always loved Adele’s ballad to dissolving a soul bond - her tragedy inspired millions and created one of the best albums of all time as far as Leo was concerned- but playing it on Theremin gave it an eerie quality. It made the simple and heart wrenching song about heartbreak sound like it belonged in another time period, in another world, in another galaxy. 

They held the last note for a second, Nico and Leo cutting off at the same time. All three of them stepped into shot to take a quick bow before Hazel turned off the camera. 

“Holy shit that was actually amazing.” Jason said as he clapped with the professor and the student. 

“I fucked up a bit- okay well a lot-” Leo started to say, watching the video again, he could see where his wrist changed a note awkwardly and he could see where he needed improvement. “Maybe I should-”

“Nope, it was good, post it.” Nico said gruffly. “If you don’t I will and I won’t make any funny captions.” 

“Fine!” Leo took the phone back and typed in a title, “‘You know what else was judged in it’s time?’ Yeah take THAT Calypso.” 

He quickly typed a shout out to the university and the teacher/student combo that helped him get what he needed and a link to a wikipedia page about Theremins and notable players. He retweeted it with #TEAMLEO and #DEMISUNGLASSES before hitting send. 

“Can we go now?” Percy asked, “I want to sleep and not drive all night.” 

“Try and top _that_ ”

___________________

The video of Leo playing the Theremin goes viral, along with a series of comments to the effect of _NICO WORE THE SUNGLASSES!_ , just like Leo wanted it to.

There’s a series of articles on gawker and buzzfeed about the Leo versus Calypso rivalry that makes Leo smirk until he reads them for too long and notices that entirely too many of the comments call Calypso uncomplimentary things. 

It jars him for a minute, because he wasn’t showing down with Calypso because she was a _girl_ but because she’d been snarky. 

The jarring doesn’t last long because just before midnight central standard time, Calypso posts a video of herself- in what looks like an airport VIP lounge- singing a verse of _Shake it Out_ by Florence + The Machine.

By singing Florence + The Machine acoustically, she’s doing the exact opposite of what Leo did, when he took a beautiful acoustic song and made it ethereal, she took an ethereal song and made a beautiful acoustic version of it, while simultaneously subtly telling the commenters to shove it

If you asked Leo if that turned him on, he’d lie and say it didn’t. 

It doesn’t really escalate from there, because they’d pulled out the big guns on the first move. Apparently no one thought Leo knew how to play anything but the bass, and no one thought Calypso could do anything but sing beautifully. The following week is them taking potshots at each other using their tools and doing ridiculous covers of music. 

Leo carefully avoided taking any personal shots or under the belt shots, and did his best to shut down commenters who ragged on Calypso for being a girl instead of being an amazing artist. The whole time trying to hide an artistic-emotional-boner the size of Lake Michigan. 

It’s all over twitter, buzzfeed, tumblr, facebook, the news, and even Leo’s dad texted him about it. 

It’s probably the most fun that Leo has had since he learned how to build cars from scratch. 

“Oh my gods, she’s _beatboxing_ ,” Leo groans to no one in particular. Watching her hair swing as she manages once again to subtly one-up him. 

“Please don’t tell me we’re going to have to find an orchestra.” Nico groans, the sunglasses tucked into his v-neck shirt. Leo steals them back, instead of admitting that an orchestra in Pittsburgh reached out to him offering their services for “#TEAMLEO.”

“We have to ramp up for Lollapalooza,” Jason says from the bunk area, “we’re picking up the girls and Frank from O’hare then we have one day of being the best damn alt-rock band in the country.” 

“No sex in the RV!” Leo and Nico both shout at the same time, making Leo feel closer to Nico than he’s ever felt before. 

“It was one time!” Percy shouts from the passenger seat, Hazel was probably blushing so much she’d drive them off the road. 

“We’re going to get a hotel room, calm down, the two of you have the bus to yourself in Chicago.” Jason folded himself into the small dining area as Nico pulls the most disgusted look he can manage. 

“Gross.” Leo supplied for Nico, as Nico was apparently remembering that his baby eighteen year old sister had a soulmate. To distract him, Leo slides over to Nico and pulls out his phone, “Let’s revel in our singleness.”

He snapped the picture before Nico could fight him on it and moved away to post the photo to instagram with the caption ‘Got no strings to hold us down!’

Like most of the time, he sends it without thinking, and Nico throws a pillow at his head, because _friendship_. 

Leo fled the common area to his bunk, theoretically to get sleep before it’s his turn to drive, because performing a show a day and engaging in a feud isn’t exhausting enough they have to add a long shift of driving to every day, but instead he plays the video again, watching the edge of Calypso’s mouth edge up in a smile as she lays down a beat. 

The video would be better if she had someone else to help her out, it’s something that he noticed- his videos frequently had a cast. The theremin video- which is approaching the number of views the _I Play Dodgeball with Cannibals_ has- consists of himself, Nico and Percy. The piano video had a disgruntled Nico’s foot in the background. The video of him playing the organ had Jason leaning against a wall in the foreground, nodding along as Leo dished out _Killing Me Softly_ (because she was killing him softly, no one got that hopefully). 

She was always alone, holding the camera herself as she serenaded the lens with nothing but her voice and a rockin’ hairstyle.

Not that he’d feel bad for her. But it did seem quite lonely. He had four friends every step of the way, Calypso just seemed to have Calypso. 

The song drew to a close, as she finished beatboxing a portion of _Dance of the Sugarplum Fairies_ which definitely should not be as awesome as it was.

______________

If Leo hadn’t spent his childhood and teenage years desperately trying to survive the foster care system and make something of himself, then Lollapalooza would’ve been everything he ever dreamed of.

Well, it’s muddy, and there’s a rampant stink of pot and alcohol that makes him wrinkle his nose as he walked around watching the friday night bands play. It helps that he’s there with his friends, and in the crush of people no one seems to notice _DEMI_ and their significant others walking amongst them. 

“Oh dude, Cake is playing! We should see them!” Leo said as they passed a pair of girls wearing a shirt that says _GET DEMI NEW SUNGLASSES 2K16!_ which Leo _loves_.

Percy nods in agreement because Leo knows for a fact that Percy originally wanted to do a Cake inspired cover of an Adele song. And to be a Cake cover band. He was shot down on all counts. 

“Or we could go get deep dish,” Jason offers, and Percy looks so torn that Leo wants to take a photo. Hazel is quicker, snapping a photo and posting it on twitter, Leo made a mental note to high five her later. 

“How about we do all the things?” Leo asks, and Piper nods along. 

“Oh look, Calypso is going to be playing here tomorrow,” Frank pointed to the crumpled booklet they were sharing, before accidentally walking into and knocking down Leo who was roughly half his size. “Sorry!” 

Frank is manhandling Leo into an upright position, while Leo’s brain was in the subtle process of snapping.

Leo was suddenly surrounded by curious and concerned faces, and he swiftly moved to cover. “Oh wait you guys! This is a perfect spot for a photo!”

It wasn’t, there was nothing but a rush of bodies, mud, and concession stands, but luckily, his friends let his weak excuse slide, they crowded around so that they could take a selfie. Leo took Jason’s shades off his face and put them on Hazel, because there were only a few photos that he’d seen with her in the shades. 

“Seriously with the-”

“Shhh Jason it’s photo time!” 

He snapped the photo, Frank’s eyes were shut so they had to do it again, and Piper wasn’t even looking but her profile looked cool so they went with that. 

By the time they get the deep dish pizza the photo has received nearly ten thousand likes and comments. Half of which are _#HAZELSHADES??_

By the morning he stops worrying about Calypso. 

And the next afternoon when there’s waves of people hopping and jumping in time with him and Jason as Percy belts out _I Play Dodgeball with Cannibals_ and he doesn’t even care what his own name _is_ let alone whether or not he’s going to meet Calypso in person. 

“Alright!” Percy says as the song ends, giving the packed audience a moment to clap. It’s a weird kind of high, a little over a year before they’d been playing a bar that had been respectably packed, but mostly because it was a cool bar and not because of their band. Now they had one of the main stages at Lolla and he has more than just his friends following him on instagram and twitter. He doesn’t even care that only a tiny portion of the audience has “LEO VALDEZ” written on their arms because frankly he finds that sorta creepy (he does however occasionally wish there were as many “LEO VALDEZ” as “PERCY JACKSON” or “JASON GRACE” because they have soulmates and that just isn’t fair.)

“Now that we got you all warmed up-” 

“ _Theremin Someone Like You!_ ” Someone shouts from the audience, and Leo does a finger gun of approval in the general direction. 

“Nope- close! This one goes out to all the lost loves-” without missing a beat, Nico leapt into the intro for _Sorrow Becomes my Best Friend_ and there isn’t a dry eye in the house when the song is done. 

“I wish every day was Lollapalooza day,” Leo says as he stumbled towards their RV, parked behind security lines to prevent groupies from invading their personal space. He turned around in the living room to see the rest of the band filing in behind him. “Aren’t you guys all going to go back to your hotel rooms to be gross? Nico and I have horror films to bond over.”

“That’s not a thing that’s going to happen.” Nico said from the doorway to the bedroom, “I need you to know that that was never on the roster.”

“Leo, this is an intervention.” Jason starts, crossing his arms. 

“I can quit being funny anytime that I want!” Leo paused, panic filling him, he tried to deflect with more humor “Or is this about the shades?” 

“No it’s not about the shades,” Percy said patting down the shades that are hanging off a beaded necklace he always wore. 

“It’s about Calypso.” Hazel said gently, frowning as she did so. 

“You were on my side about it!” Leo pointed to Hazel, “you said-”

“It’s gone on for a week and we need to cut it off before it gets nasty,” Piper says in her annoying _you know I’m right just listen to me_ voice. 

“We’ve been invited to the same afterparty as Calypso, and we want to end the feud now before we turn into a musically progressive Oasis.” Jason clarified, patting Leo’s arm. 

“I’m not telling you again, Oasis fought internally-” 

“Yeah that’s what I’m worried about.” Leo had to give Jason points for keeping a straight face while burning him. That was cold. 

“I’ve been friends with Calypso since we were fifteen and I told her that we want to-” Percy trailed off, apparently lacking the words. 

“Resolve this peacefully.” Annabeth supplied helpfully. 

“We’re going to this party and you’re making nice,” Jason clarified. 

“Okay fine,” Leo cast his eyes around the RV, looking for the one thing that hadn’t moved since their first night in it. He grabbed the whiskey bottle and uncapped it. The panic had risen to a fever pitch in him, and he went for the quickest and worst escape route, “but you can’t make me do it sober!”

“Leo no!” Jason shouted. 

“Leo Yes!” Leo shot back, before chugging the whiskey, which spoiler alert: was still horrendous. He managed to get a few big slugs before coughing and holding up his hand to his chest, “oh fuck that was awful.”

“Dude, you’re the biggest lightweight in the world,” Percy snatched the bottle out of Leo’s hands, “you don’t even like alcohol!”

“Yes, that was horrible, but I don’t even feel it.” Leo snapped his fingers, “I guess I’m doing this sober.”

______________

Leo woke up in the middle of the floor, to the RV jerking over a bump.

“Whassit?” He sat up, wiping his face, “what’s- what’s going on?”

“What’s the last thing you remember?” Hazel asked quietly, handing him a bottle of water. 

“Um, I shouted at Trump Tower?” He supplied, they’d been going to a bar somewhere on the river, and there was a huge ugly tower dominating the skyline. 

“Oh wow, so you don’t remember any of it?” Hazel winced sympathetically. 

“It’ll come back to him, it always does.” Jason supplied helpfully. 

“We found you wandering back at 6 in the morning.” Nico had apparently been using his back as a foot rest. “If it makes you feel better, Calypso had the same idea.”

“Oh no. What did we do?” Leo rolled over, wincing as he did so. 

Hazel slid to the floor next to him, pulling out her cellphone and queuing up a video. 

Leo took the phone and winced, it was too tiny and too bright. But his eyes adjusted to see what looked like two people sitting at a piano together. With a jolt he realized he was sitting at a piano with Calypso. They were leaning in close and talking until someone off camera said “are you going to do it?” 

Calypso looked up, eyes wide and a smile on her face that looked more genuine than the ones he’d seen her wear in interviews. She looked back at video Leo, who didn’t look like a horrible sloppy mess. She said something quietly, and video Leo started playing a familiar beat.

“Oh no-” Leo groaned, he could see his fingers deftly playing the song he taught himself how to play in a foster home years ago. 

“Yeah that’s right. You and Calypso bonded over Michael Jackson last night.” 

“ _It’s close to midnight, and something evil’s lurking in the dark_ -” Video Calypso was grinning her head bobbing as she sang, video Leo kept looking between Video Calypso and the keyboard, Video Leo shook his head and the shades fell down as Calypso rocked the chorus, belting out the classic song even as she was clearly just as drunk as he was. 

“It gets better,” Hazel said, grinning. 

“Oh no,” Leo knew full well what that meant. And sure enough, as the verses turned to choruses, and back to verses again, came the part of the creepy old dude. 

The part that Video Leo spoke perfectly complete with creepy laugh to punctuate the song, paired with Calypso’s beautiful laugh. They both ended the song by falling off the stool from laughing too hard. 

“You guys let me post this on the internet?” Leo looked at the user name, before looking up at Jason. “Jason! How could you!” 

“Technically it was Percy, but this is what you get,” Jason grinned, over his shoulder, and Leo was too hungover to throw a pillow at someone who was driving. 

“Why is there another video- you let us post two videos?” Morbid curiosity had him hitting play. “You let us sing Taylor Swift?” 

“Yeah of course we let you sing Taylor Swift! That was all you two.” Percy leaned back, crossing his arms and grinning, “You were both going on about your bad blood.” 

“Why did you guys make me sleep on the floor?” Leo shut the video off, the frame freezing on Calypso singing with the shades on and Leo grinning at her like an idiot. 

“That’s as far as we could get you, you wandered off with Calypso and went for a walk, in downtown Chicago, at night.” There’s a warning under Hazel’s words but Leo is exhausted and hungover and he has no idea how rockstars managed to live life in the fast lane when his head feels like it’s going to explode. 

“Just wake me up when we get to St. Louis.” Leo stretched, and Hazel gasped. “What?” 

He looked down and noticed for the first time he wasn’t wearing a shirt. “What happened to my shirt? And Hazel you’ve seen me without a shirt on-”

Hazel grabbed his arm, pulling it out so he could see what made her gasp. 

“Oh fuck.” Leo said as Percy gasped audibly and Nico poked his head out from his bunk. 

“What? What fresh hell is this?” Nico asked, “we finished the feud- oh shit.”

 _CALYPSO_ was scrawled up Leo’s forearm, the letters loopy and perfectly written.

______________

Hazel let him collect himself in her room, because Hazel was a saint among humans. He’d only been in her room once or twice, to fix things that broke. It was dominated by the queen sized bed, one side of bed hidden under a suspension rod that held all of Hazel’s clothes. Plus the winter jackets for the entire band shoved off to one side. The boys all had to share one closet, which meant there was no room for their coats.

Leo sat down on the edge of her bed, and panicked. 

He’d seen Calypso’s music videos, the big muscular guys walking through the sand after her, as she wandered listlessly wtih some sort of flowy dress being pulled to and fro by the current. 

Leo was, at best, wiry. He’d gained some height and was almost as tall as Percy and Jason. He had no where near the muscle mass of Percy, let alone Frank who looked more like Calypso’s confused beach men. 

Girls like Calypso -beautiful, talented and amazing- didn’t soul bond with guys like Leo. At best this was a one sided bond, at worst it was a two way bond that she’d dissolve in a few weeks. 

“Oh _fuck_ ,” Leo felt a little like crying, which he hadn’t done in years, namely because he’d been all cried out. It was bad enough that he was the awkward 7th wheel with Nico refusing bond over their shared singleness. Now he had to go and put himself through an unrequited soul bond with a woman who could beatbox and remake _Rap God_ in one night. A woman who called him untalented in front of the world. 

He pulled out his phone and scrolled through the previous night. To find that he had a single missed call at 5:30 in the morning. 

After hesitating, Leo pressed send, holding the phone up to his ear as he waited. 

“Hey! You’ve reached Calypso, please leave a message after the tone and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible!” Her voice was clear and delighted, as if getting voicemails was the best thing. 

“Hey um, this is Leo, apparently we hung out last night and um I was just wondering if you maybe,” he sucked in a deep breath, to put it all out there, and promptly choked “Give me a call back, bye.” 

Leo hung up and flung the phone away. It skittered and slid beneath the sliding door into the hallway that led to the bunks. 

“Fuck _me_ ” he groaned.

______________

It comes back to him in waves, how he shouted at the Trump Tower and turned around to be standing face to face with Calypso. His arm felt weirdly warm but he just stuck out his hand and said, “Let’s end this feud buddy, but I still think you’re wrong.”

She laughed and grabbed his hand, “sounds like a plan and you’re the worst.” 

As the fog cleared he can remember them discussing music in the corner of the party, before doing the piano man routine and getting swept up into singing _Thriller_ and _Bad Blood_. There were more songs, many more songs, and probably quite a few more videos floating around on the internet. 

She said she was hot, and he suggested a walk. They stuffed twenties near homeless people and walked down the riverside. He’d given her his bomber jacket and she stole his shades, laughing the whole while. 

At 5:30 in the morning her assistant called, reminding her of her flight to London, informing her that they already packed her bags and they were on the way to the airport and she should be too.

They’d rushed to the train, the street devoid of cabs, he googled directions and she laughed as they got turned around. She paid for both of them to get down onto the platform, and there on an abandoned subway platform at 5:45 in the morning, she kissed him. A sweet kiss, a kiss that left him smiling as she waved from inside the train as it pulled away. 

He walked in a daze back to the park where the festival was being held. Grinning as Jason found him to escort him home. 

The night was so nice, so wonderfully pleasant. It felt like a scene out of someone else’s life, not his.

Eventually he opened the door to retrieve his phone. There were no messages but she was probably still somewhere between Chicago and London. Or she’d already forgotten he existed. 

He googled lollapalooza instead, and just like he thought, there was ten videos of him and Calypso on the internet. He scrolled past them, and photos of other bands and other afterparties, to find any other traces of the night. 

Hidden amongst the other photos was a picture of her, sitting on the Blue Line next to the doorway, in the long dress she’d worn to the afterparty, and his bomber jacket on. 

“Ah fuck,” he grumbled from the floor again. The door slid open and Jason slipped in. 

“Hey buddy,” Jason leaned against the door frame and Leo impulsively thought about blaming him. 

“Just shoot me, shoot me now, put me out of my misery.” 

“Dude you got bonded last night, how is that a bad thing?”

“Duh!” Leo sat up, “a one sided soul bond is a bad thing! A very bad thing! Your mom went crazy and drove into a tree because of one!”

“It was most definitely not a one sided soul bond. She didn’t leave you alone for more than five minutes all night and she stole your jacket.”

“That doesn’t mean-”

“Dude there’s photos of her going through JFK wearing your bomber jacket.” 

Leo paused, frowning. 

“Anyways, we’re going to have a show tonight. Do you want Percy to play bass? If you want to go to London we can put you on a bus back to Chicago-”

“No, I don’t-” Leo sucked in another breath, breathing seemed to be more problematic than usual that morning, “I don’t want to do anything until I talk to her.”

“Okay, alright. Here’s a coconut water.” Jason patted his leg before standing up and walking away. 

“Is it possible to die of embarrassment?” Leo asked Jason’s retreating back. He didn’t get a response.

The rest of the day is spent in a blur of setting up and hydrating and hating his life. Leo compulsively checked his phone every five minutes until Jason took sweet mercy on him and stole his phone away before before the show. 

The previous show jitters were replaced with a different kind of jitter as he kept glancing at the pocket he knew Jason kept his phone in. 

The show went off without a hitch, they broke down and packed and away their instruments. As usual, the person with the most post show adrenaline (Percy this time) got behind the wheel of the RV to take them at least part way or to a rest area for the night. The whole time Leo wanted to pull his phone out of Jason’s pocket just to see if she’d texted him a message. Probably one that says _LOL NO_.

Leo finally fell into a fitful sleep in his bunk, he dreamed of cinnamon hair and almond eyes and the impossible becoming somewhat probable. 

It’s the vibrating that wakes him up, he lifted his head and turned to the crook of his arm that he’d been laying on, to see an unknown number ringing. He rolled over and grabbed at his phone, falling out of his bunk and onto the floor. 

“Hello?” He clutched the phone to his ear, casting a look around the bunks. The RV was dark, he could see the rough shape of Percy in the bunk across from him, he lurched up and headed toward the front. No one had bothered to move Nico from where he’d apparently fallen asleep at his piano again. 

“Hi,” She breathed out, into the phone and his heart swelled in his chest. 

Then neither of them said anything. 

Leo scrambled towards the door, unlocking it and stepping out into the dark. The pavement was cracked and poorly paved. There were distant lights by the rest area, and Percy hadn’t bothered to hook up the RV. 

“So um,” Leo started, “I should report you for grand theft jacket.”

Calypso scoffed down the line, “please, I’m doing society a favor-”

“How are you doing society a favor? By wearing it in London instead of me wearing it here?”

“To be fair, I look way better in your jacket then you do-”

“Well that’s just not fair, you probably look better than me in anything.” 

“Besides most of my dresses are sleeveless and I needed to cover my arm while I was going through the airport.” 

Leo paused, a grin spreading across his face. 

“Why did you need to cover your arm?”

“Don’t think that this means I think you’re right now or something.” Leo just grinned wider fistpumping at Calypso’s words, “just cus we’re soulmates doesn’t mean that you win.”

“Oh you know I’m winning. I’m definitely winning. I’m hashtag winning.” 

“If anything you’re Hashtag losing.” 

“Okay okay, whatever you say. When can I see you again?” 

Calypso didn’t immediately respond and Leo winced, _coming on too strong to my own soulmate, great_ he thought bitterly. 

“Is there any chance that your tour ended today and you could just fly out to Europe to see me?” She sounded hopeful Leo dropped to his knees on the pavement, sending a prayer of thanks up as he did so. 

“No, I think I have a show or an event almost every day until September. When does your tour wrap up?” Leo sat on the bottom step to the RV, playing with the sleeves of his coat. 

“December.” The word was edged with sadness and despair, or at least he was projecting that on her because he was distraught at the thought. 

“December? What?” 

“It’s a world tour, I’ll have a week off in early November-” 

“November!” 

“It’s okay,” she sounded a little bitter, “working around my schedule is always hard for people-”

Leo suddenly remembered tabloids that splattered Calypso’s dating life across their pages. How she’d be happy and walking hand in hand with some guy who would slowly but surely disappear. 

“Um, I’m not people. It’s okay, we can tough it out til September and I’ll come out to meet you wherever. And we’ll go from there.” He nodded resolutely, it wasn’t the best situation but it was certainly better than waiting until December.

“Yeah, ok.” She sounded unsure and partially annoyed.

“If you don’t think that the second we’re done touring that I won’t be all up in your business-”

“Gross-”

“Not like that, okay maybe a little bit like that. But what I’m trying to say is I’m coming for you,” he paused running his hands through his hair, “In a non-threatening way.”

Her burst of laughter made him smile, finally someone who liked his shitty jokes. 

“So what do we do now?” He asked when the laughter trailed off. 

“What do you mean?” She sounded nervous again. 

“Do we just go around with our arms in full view-”

“Can I see it?”

He paused, looking down at his arm, he’d taken off the fingerless glove he’d worn to the concert- the whole time he’d been thankful that fingerless gloves that covered forearms were back in style. “Yeah, can I see yours?”

“Sure,” There was a fair amount of awkward shuffling as they both snapped photos of their forearms to send to each other, doing their best not to hang up on the call.

“There,” he hit send, just as a message popped up, he clicked on it to see a pale arm stretched out, resting on top of his bomber jacket. His heart caught in his throat as he saw the messy scrawl of _LEO VALDEZ_

“It just- it just says Calypso.” She says with a small amount of surprise. 

“What else would it say?” 

“Well I was worried it’d say Calypso Ocean Atlas.” 

“Is that your full name?” She made a noise that could’ve been confirmation, but he trundled on “Jason’s real last name is Jupiter, but he goes by Jason Grace and that’s what showed up on Piper’s arm.”

“Oh,” There’s a sound of someone talking to her, “I’ve got to go, I’m supposed to be on this talk show soon. How about we keep this between us until we see each other again.” 

“So pretend we’re just good friends until further notice?” It should hurt his feelings, make him feel rejected and unloved, but Leo grinned widely, “keep the feud going?”

“Exactly. I’ll um, I’ll call you later.” The line died as Calypso hung up. 

In the dark parking lot, Leo took a moment to do a happy dance.

_________________

“Well someone is happy,” Nico managed to say it like happiness was the worst thing in the world.

“Good morning to you too grumpy pants!” Leo pressed a kiss to Nico’s forehead, before turning to his other friends, “And to you too Percival-”

“That’s not what my name is short for,” Percy let Leo press a kiss to his forehead anyways. 

“Jasona-”

“That’s not even a name,” Jason was too far to get a kiss so Leo just rumpled his hair. 

“Hazelnut-”

“You get a fistbump you weirdo,” Hazel extended her hand across the table in front of Nico who just rolled his eyes and leaned back. 

“Awesome. Now that we’re all here and misnamed-”

“Hold up on the band meeting, I have some news to impart,” Leo sucked in a deep breath before saying “Leo’s got a bae.”

Nico shot Percy a look, while Percy just shrugged and Jason rolled his eyes, Hazel was the only one who looked happy. 

“What- no congrats man?” Leo looked at his friends, frowning. 

“We’ve known for twenty-four hours?” Percy posed it as a question and Leo just looked at Hazel for support. 

“Yeah but I found out last night that it’s a two way thing and that she actually likes me back-” 

“Oh Honey, we told you that yesterday.” Hazel reached forward to pat his hand, frowning reassuringly. 

“Leo, you need to have more confidence in the Leo.” Jason supplied, unhelpfully in Leo’s opinion. 

“She was all over you the other night, in a ‘I’m having the time of my life’ sort of way.” Nico added, “I thought we told you that yesterday.

“Yeah she didn’t laugh that much when we were dating-”

“Wait what.” Leo turned to Percy. “ _What_ ”

Percy shot another look at Nico and Jason, before looking back at Leo, “Yeah the summer before she dropped her first album she went to camp half- we broke up while she was recording. I wrote the song _What If I take a Permanent Vacation_ about her- I thought you knew.” 

“Yeah this is the face of someone who knows things,” Leo pointed at his face before letting his hand drop. “Anyways, we’re keeping it on the DL until I can go see her in September-”

“September? What? That’s forever away-”

“How can you wait until September-”

“I had a hard enough time waiting to finish a set let alone-”

Leo held up a hand to stop his bandmates, “we’re both feeling this out and we don’t want to rush things. I like to think I stick to my commitments.”

Everyone stared at him blankly, except Nico who was nodding. That was enough to tell him he was in the right. “Come on guys, Band meeting time!”

Percy and Jason shot each other another look, which drove Leo crazy. It was like Jason and Percy never stopped being co-counselors, and Leo, Nico and Hazel were their permanent campers. Granted, their weird tag team leadership worked extremely well, but it was still unsettling sometimes. 

The meeting went as it always did, they were still working on compiling songs for their fourth album, the only song they were in love with so far was Hazel’s, and they reviewed their online presence (well Leo reviewed it and everyone pretended to listen) and then devolved into gossip and eventually into a push-up competition between Percy and Jason. 

“You guys suck!” Leo pulled out his phone to record a vine of Percy and Jason, “You don’t have any weight on your backs.”

“Nope!” Nico said as soon as Percy sat up on his knees and looked at Nico and Hazel with excitement in his eyes.

Leo hit send, snickering the whole time. He added the hastag “dondeestaglasses” to pull Calypso into the conversation because he was kind of a dick and even though they promised to keep it on the DL, every fiber of his being wanted Calypso to be sitting next to him at the table, watching Percy and Jason be ridiculous. 

An hour later, after the contest ended (results indecisive because Nico refused to vote) he was scrolling through instagram to see a photo of Calypso, grinning widely and throwing up a peace sign, wearing the sunglasses, along with the caption ‘Finder’s keepers losers weepers #teamcalypso.’

“Is that how we’re going to play it?” Leo said to no one in particular, “alright that’s how it’s going to be.” 

Six hours as they were setting up for a concert he berated Nico into taking a vine. “Okay, make sure I don’t look awful.”

Leo laid down on an amp like it was a fainting couch, his arm thrown over his eyes, the fabric of his fingerless glove tickling his brow. 

“ _Hello Darkness my old friend, I’ve come to talk to you again_ ” Percy helpfully sang from behind Nico as Leo slid down the amp to lay flat on the floor. 

“Alright there we go,” Nico handed the phone to Leo who added the title ‘Living in an sunglassesless world is the worst’

“I don’t know what was more ridiculous, the covert flirting or the overt flirting.” Hazel said with a grin from just beyond the stage. 

“Haters to the left,” Leo clicked the upload button and wagged his phone around. “Besides, it’s not flirting. It’s friendly competition.”

_________________

“Shout out to Calypso,” Percy said after introducing the band the next night, “She stole Jason’s glasses from Leo-” Percy waited, grinning as the audience roared, “-but at Leo’s distress she hooked us up with some new sunglasses.”

Percy pulled down the aviators that had been on the top of his head, just as the rest of the band followed his lead, Hazel rocking it the best in her A-line flowery dress behind the drumset. 

“And now we’re going to play a song, just for her.” The band leapt into the only song Leo had written, a track off of their five song mini-b-side album they had released with the re-release of their second album. It was a short song, it was mostly a love song to mechanical theory, but all the other songs Leo had written were about cars and robots.

Leo doesn’t stop grinning the whole time.

_________________

“So how did they respond to you sending the glasses?” A british reporter was asking Calypso.

Calypso looked gorgeous, in the same sleeveless dress she was known for wearing. The bomber jacket she’d taken to wearing almost constantly was absent, in it’s place was a slimmer more flattering variation. 

“Well,” She lifted the label of the leather jacket, and Leo grinned from where he was watching. Technically it hadn’t been in response to the glasses, he’d ordered it for her before the glasses came. 

“Really?” The reporter looked at the coat before looking at her. 

“He- _Demi_ also sent me a gameboy.” She grinned, the game boy had been in response to the glasses. 

“So, are you two - stepping out?” The reporter had paused, as if she was looking for the best term for it.

Calypso’s smile was coy, “we've become good friends.” 

Leo grinned into his arm, leaning towards the screen. 

“Has he forgiven you for what your fans are calling rap goddess?” 

The audience cheere as calypso laughed. 

“I hope so, I haven't asked,” her mouth hitched downward before her smile returned, “I had already written the other verses in my head, Leo was the straw that broke the camel's back and the missing link for a verse so-” Calypso’s mouth hitched slightly, Leo really wished he could stop staring at her mouth. “ When I wrote the other verses to- what is it? Rap Goddess?-”

“Wait!” The reporter held up a hand, calming the audience before pressing to ask another question, “There are more verses?”

At Calypso’s smile, Leo actually had to lift a hand to his heart to make it calm down. 

“It’s a hobby?” Calypso offered hesitantly. At the reporter’s shocked face Calypso smiled wider, “Sometimes I need to get my mind off of my own music style. Sometimes I rewrite rap songs as a type of palate cleanser. I’m not going to lie, that one was hard until I got the Leo verse.” 

“You’re joking-”

“No, I’ve been doing it since I was sixteen, but I wouldn’t record any of them, they’re mostly my angry female raps- it’s a way to release-” Calypso bit her lip, “it’s a way to vent?” 

“Can we please-” at the audience’s laughter the reporter held up another hand, Calypso’s long cinnamon hair shaking as she shook her head, “can we _please_ hear the rest of Rap Goddess?” 

The click of a camera and a flash had Leo rolling in his bunk to see Percy with Leo’s phone up. “And that’s going on the band instagram.”

“No! Wait- make sure my arm-”

“Don’t worry- ‘Leo is missing his new best friend #Teamcaleo’” Percy walked out to the living room as Leo just turned back to the show, Calypso was listening attentively to a newcomer who was sitting next to her on the couch.

____________

The hashtag teamcaleo had been growing, but the photo of him watching the show threw gasoline on the fire. Fans of Calypso and _Demi_ alike were arguing about the possibility of a budding relationship between Leo and Calypso. One person pointed out a photo of Leo from earlier in the day, standing next to the burned wall of the RV with a sign around his neck that said “I burn things to show them I love them” with a suspicious shadow that might have _looked_ like a tattoo (Leo didn’t have the heart to point out that his tattoo had been tucked behind his back on his dominant arm) someone responded with a clip of Calypso doing her first verse of Rap Goddess, pointing out that Calypso had burned Leo to show him she loved him.

Calypso and Leo decided not to make it easy for anyone. Leo kept begging Calypso to put out all of Rap Goddess on twitter, threatening to beg in her in person to do it. Calypso had responded to the photo of him watching her show by posting a youtube video of her singing “I wish you were here” by Incubus. 

They were on a radio show in Houston when someone leapt at the chance to ask about it, by embedding it into other questions. 

“So we have _Going to Make you Regret Leaving Me_ , _Blue Pancakes, Blue Frosting, Blue M &MS_ and _Better Chance of Getting Struck By Lightning Than of Me Giving a Fuck_ so are we going to get a angsty or happy Leo versus his parents song? Or an angsty Nico versus his parents song-” The DJ had a lopsided smile that Leo was positive got him a job as a radio dj in the first place. Leo had decided instantly that he liked him. 

“Also is Calypso your girlfriend?” The DJ who was clearly drunk at work asked, his leer making Leo feel violent. 

“Wait, back up- I am the only person in this band who has a good relationship with both of my parents, why would I write an angsty song about them?” Nico leaned into his mic as Leo fought the urge to roll his eyes. 

“It’s because all of your songs are angsty Nico, and to answer your question- the question about parental songs-” Leo shot a glare at the drunk DJ “-Probably. But if I wrote a song about my dad it’d be something along the lines of ‘We met at a conference and it was really awkward that you had my mom’s name on your arm like what the heck.’ It’d be a really classy song. If I wrote about my mom-”

“You think _Sorrow Becomes my Best Friend_ is sad-”

“Yeah, exactly. Not a dry eye in the _house_ ,” Leo pointed at Nico, “And same goes if Nico wrote about his mom-”

“The song would have to be in Italian and Percy just can’t sing in other languages-” 

“Except the language of _love_ ” 

For a moment Leo and Nico’s back and forth does exactly what it’s supposed to do, and it distracts the DJ. Lopsided kind DJ was opening his mouth to ask a question when Drunk DJ bust in again. 

“No seriously, are you Calypso’s latest fling?”

“Dude, _dude_ look at me, and then recall your mental image of Calypso- I’m sure you have one as you look to be the most pervy of motherfuckers-” the other DJ hit a button that Leo was positive censored him, “I am not even in the same ballpark as her league- hell I’m not even in the same _sport_ but also- more importantly-” Leo reared back, suddenly realizing what the DJ was actually asking which was _Are you tapping that?_ “What would it Matter? What difference would it make if I was ‘stepping out’-”

“Airquotes don’t help when you’re on the radio, Leo.” Nico interjected, with the same deadpan delivery Leo had grown to love. 

“Whoever Calypso is stepping out with, is Calypso’s business, and if she was stepping out with me I’d be the luckiest guy on the planet- but it’d also be between the two of us, and I don’t mean you and me, I mean her and me. I honestly do not get why everyone is so obsessed with her relationships. Calypso has been putting out _good_ music for years, creeping up on a decade now, and whenever I hear her name it’s in conjunction with some guy which is ridiculous! She’s won more grammies then Beyonce- Not more than Jay Z but there’s always next year. She shouldn’t be fielding questions about her love life any more than _I_ should be fielding questions about her love life. Or my love life for that matter. We’re musicians. Ask us about our music.” Leo turned to the lopsided smile DJ who just looked shocked. “Have you got anymore for us?”

_______

“It’s just really out of character for you to snap at anyone. You only made a few jokes too, are you okay?” Piper’s voice was tinny down the line and Leo just curled tighter into a ball.

“I’m _fine_ ” he lied through his teeth. 

“Leo.” Piper’s voice could command an army to walk into a slaughter. 

“Fine, I don’t think it’s fair. She’s all on her own with nothing but rap music to console her, and the more I watch interviews she’s done-”

“That’s adorable-”

“The more that I see that she’s just all alone. She rarely collaborates- never with the same person twice- she never mentions friends or anything. She’s just stuck in the spotlight by herself and it aggravates me.” Leo stretched his leg and pressed his head against the cool wall. 

“She’s not alone anymore, Leo.” 

“She is until September.” Leo frowned, suddenly wishing he’d taken up the offer to be flown off to London. 

“It’s going to work out Leo. I promise you.”

_______

If Leo believed in higher beings, which for the record he hasn’t since his mom died, he’d probably would’ve believed they were looking out for him a scant nine days after he woke up shirtless with a woman’s name tattooed to his arm.

In the sea of photos of fans with “CALEO” written on starbucks cups and desks, there’s a photo of Calypso frowning with the caption, _My bass player is sick_. It quickly rose to the top of the photos, spurred by comments to the effect of “IF ONLY YOU KNEW A GOOD BASS PLAYER.” 

Leo forced himself to set the phone down and sit next to Nico for his turn at the wheel. 

“You know this is really good for you right?” Nico said, instead of pulling over. 

“What? Driving? Piper says it’s the only time I sit still-”

“No, the Calypso feud thing. No one took either of you seriously until you started waving your musical dicks at each other-” 

“What the hell kind of metaphor is that Nico?” Leo scrunched up his nose, even as a part of him points out that he’d be okay with any metaphorical dicks Calypso would have. 

“It sucks for right now, but I think you guys met your match-”

“Ah shit.” Percy said, stepping out of the bunk area to look at them all, “the amphitheater we’re supposed to be playing at caught fire with some poorly timed fireworks- no one’s hurt-” he said mostly to Hazel before looking at Nico, “but the show tonight and tomorrow is canceled. That was the rep calling to see if we wouldn’t mind coming back to do a raincheck show-”

“Yeah I think we can make it work-” Jason said, scrolling through his phone to look at their schedule, “is there a day in-”

“Wait. Are you saying we have forty-eight hours of no show?” Leo asked, his phone vibrating like crazy in his hand. 

“Yeah?” Percy spoke slowly as if Leo was an idiot. 

“Drive to Atlanta- or whatever’s closest-”

“Why?” Percy asked, before the realization set in. 

“Yes!” Hazel clapped from her spot at the kitchen table, “yes!” 

“There’s a show in Madrid that needs a bassist.”

__________

He only shows up on time because the cab driver recognized him and broke several laws to get him to the futbol stadium on time. The show is sold out, he knows that because all of her shows have been sold out for months. But the reality that his soulmate regularly sells out stadiums and arenas had never hindered him as it did then. He weaved through slow walking fans chattering in a Spanish he could barely understand.

Someone- the assistant he’d coaxed on the phone while waiting to board probably- is waiting at the back entrance, waving him in. She spoke quickly as they walked, updating him with info that he honestly could care less about, he’s about to see Calypso and nothing else mattered. Someone else handed him a bass, it feels familiar but it’s not Festus. It’ll do. 

Before he knew it, he was standing just behind the curtain. The stage is set up differently then at _Demi_ shows. Percy is never further forward than the Nico or Jason, with Leo and Hazel between them or slightly behind depending on the set up. The band at Calypso’s show is ranged along the back wall, and Calypso has the run of the whole stage to herself. It should be empowering but it looked isolating. Calypso was by herself at the edge, addressing the crowd and getting ready to launch into her song. 

“Bueno?” The guy next to him asked, and Leo shot back “Gracias” before stepping out onto the stage. 

The audience recognized him first, a roar erupting as his face appeared on the huge screen that dominated the walls. He strummed the bass line to Rap God as best as he could, doing his best with what he could glean from the many hundred times he heard it on the radio. 

His smile might be plastered on a 30 foot screen, but when she turned around and spotted him, her smile was just for him. 

“Hola,” he started as he came to the mic that had been quickly set up for him, and quickly decided that he wasn’t going to speak to the audience- he could see the translators and the captions- he was going to speak to his soulmate, “I heard your bassist was sick.” 

The audience erupted into more applause, as Calypso shook her head, the grin not disappearing. He had crossed no man’s land to stand just to the side and behind where she’d sing. 

“Now, I do have one demand- after all I’m a highly acclaimed musician and I don’t play for free.” 

Calypso shot a look towards the audience, Leo can see it’s an epic eye roll on the 30 foot screens that surround them. 

“What’s your demand, oh wonderfully talented musician?” The sarcasm is contradicted by the smile. 

“I’m just wondering if you’re beginning to feel like a Rap Goddess-” more screams and cheers from the audience, “- and if maybe you could sing me six minutes of angry female venting.”

“With or without the Leo Burn Verse?” 

“With of course.” 

The audience is at a fever pitch, when Calypso jerked her head towards the rest of the band before looking back at him. 

“If that’s the price then I’ll pay it.” Calypso paused, the audience practically foaming at the mouth, “if you release your Theremin cover of _Someone Like You_ within the next year. “

“Done.” Leo responded, and Calypso shot him one more smile before turning back to the audience.

_________ 

The paparazzi _sucked_ and Leo officially hated them, _so much_.

“It’s okay just keep your sunglasses on, and look impassive,” Calypso shoved Leo out of the car, and the paparazzi separated like a swarm ready to devour an unsuspecting prey but needing the go ahead from a leader. Leo wanted to jump back in the car, squeak something like “let’s figure this out!” He knew there’d be accusations all over the news the next morning, and none of them would be bad for him. 

Calypso stepped out of the car behind him, and the paparazzi, who weren’t exactly quiet before, started shouting questions at her. She flicked her long cinnamon hair over her shoulders, her braids somehow flawless after a three hour show. Defiantly she threaded her arm through Leo’s and marched into the hotel. 

There was a battleline of busboys holding back the paparazzi that Calypso just stepped through. She didn’t bother to go to the front desk, an assistant handed her a keycard and muttered a room number. Calypso thanked her like the assistant had just handed her a million dollars, but she didn’t stop moving. 

“Is it like this all the time for you?” Leo asked in the elevator, “that’s insane.”

“It’s only like this when they smell blood in the water, they think we’re dating and they’re excited to see me fuck up another relationship,” Calypso’s hand tightened on his arm for a second, and Leo looked at her. With her flats on and his boots on, he was the one who was slightly taller, but he’d spent the whole concert staring up at her in her ridiculous heels. He tried to imagine her fucking anything up, he couldn't summon the image.

“Yeah, I really doubt you’re going to be the one to fuck this up.” Leo winked at her and she laughed.

“I’ve fucked up a lot of relationships before-”

“Yeah but practice makes perfect, and I’ve had no practice. I’m probably going to accidentally set something on fire- besides.” He poked her arm where his bomber jacket was covering his name to point out that she was stuck with him.

Calypso just smiled, rolling her eyes as the doors slid open. Her arm tightened as she tugged him towards the room, he only got quick impressions of the room, there's an outfit laid out for her and a bag of groceries on the table but before he could let anything sink in, she screwed a hand into the front of his shirt and shoved him against the wall. It took a second for his brain to catch up, but by then her lips were on his. 

The fuzzy memory of their first kiss was sweet and endearing, their second kiss would’ve gotten Leo through months of happy time on his own. Calypso was a force of nature to be reckoned with, and Leo was doing his best to keep up, but his mind kept jarring, as if there was a hundred little tiny Leos running around in his brain shouting _Calypso’s tongue is in your mouth!_ until one very ecstatic one shouted _Calypso’s hand is on your belt!_

“Whoa-” Leo said as he pulled away, his arms were circled around her, he looked down between them, and realized instantly that instead of looking down to see where Calypso’s hands were stroking his belt, he looked down her shirt instead. He flushed red and snapped his eyes back to her, she was biting her own lip ( _she should be biting ours again!_ shouted the little Leos) and looking slightly nervous. 

“Do you want to slow down?” she chewed her lip for a second before smiling nervously. All the little Leos screamed as he fought the urge to look down her shirt again, because even if they were making out against the hotel door, looking down shirts without permission was _rude_.

“No, I most definitely do not want to slow down, I’m just very awkward. At this. But also in life. So awkward.” Leo paused for a moment, “very awkward.” 

“You haven’t-” she was frowning and Leo wanted to die of embarrassment. He was in his early twenties and in a band. He was supposed to be banging groupies on the regular and doing all sorts of crazy stuff. He didn’t keep it a secret that he ended every show by going back to his bunk and fiddling with his inventions- not a euphemism. 

“Um, yeah no practice.” He shrugged, and she just smiled wider. “What?”

“Nothing,” her smile widened and his blush deepened. 

“No seriously what?” 

“I just like that you haven’t done this with anyone, you’re all mine-” Calypso shrugged as she spoke, a possessive fire lighting in her eyes. 

“Okay, that hints of toxic jealousy but yes, I’m all yours and I need all the practice I can get- I’m freshly fallen snow, you should trample all over-” Calypso’s hands undid his belt buckle with more finesse than he ever managed. His jeans fell to the ground with a loud rustle, and a packet of condoms he’d stolen from Jason slid out of his back pockets. Between the blush and the very serious hard on that had appeared, he was all out of blood for more blushing, so his embarrassment at the presumptuous condoms stayed internal. Calypso’s eyes flitted to it before back to him. 

“I’m going to trample you alright, in the morning you’re going to be slush.” Leo wanted to shoot some clever rejoinder back, like _slush tends to happen in the afternoon but yeah slush me up baby,_ but Calypso had dropped to her knees and the hundred Leos were screaming too loud for Leo to come up with anything clever.

____________

Eventually Leo found out what the groceries were (she liked cooking, and she cooked dinner for the both of them, unafraid of oil hurting her as she did it naked), Leo fixed her phone (naked while explaining to her how touch screens worked), Leo also used up most of the condoms he’d stolen from Jason, and Calypso was going to order more but they fell asleep before they managed to call the desk.

All in all it was the best night of his life. He woke up on two hours of sleep cursing the world and wanting to pitch in the “be a rockstar” flag and become Calypso’s kept man. He reminded himself that he didn’t want to become the friend who abandons his friends to be with his soul mate, he always hated that guy, but his resolve was tested when Calypso’s arm tightened across his waist and her chest pressed against his side. He’d been given explicit permission to look down her cleavage the night before, so he took a moment to look down at where she was clinging to him, her hair falling down her neck, obscuring the hickeys he’d put there, and falling just short of her waist. 

“Let’s not be that dick,” he muttered mostly to himself before checking the time again, he swore softly and started to disentangle himself, running his hand through her hair under the guise of moving it off his chest. 

“No.” She spoke clearly and definitively for someone who was half asleep, as he tried to lift her arm off his waist. 

“I have to go, I have a show in Florida tonight and a flight to catch in a few hours.” But his fingers threaded through hers instead, gripping her hand tightly. 

“No, don’t- I don’t know if I can wait until September-” she mumbled into his chest. 

“Oh my gods I can’t think about that right now or I’ll never leave,” Leo caressed Calypso’s arm, in a way that he hoped was reassuring. 

“Okay fine, don’t go then, stay here. Let’s just both live in this hotel in Madrid forever.” Calypso’s leg had been thrown over one of his, she shifted so it was draped across both his legs, dangerously close to kneeing him where it would hurt. 

“We can’t do that-” her hand slipped southward from his chest, and Leo’s breath caught in his chest, “or we could, yeah let’s do that-” 

She was magical, of that Leo was positive, because he had _points_ to make, and now all he could do was stroke her side the way that he now knew she liked as she grinned up at him. 

“Then we have an accord,” before Leo could make fun of her for saying _then we have an accord_ in _bed_ , she’d moved to straddle him and grabbed the last condom off the side table. Tearing it open with her teeth and pulling it out “Or at least we have time-”

“Yes- Yes we have time-” Leo tried to help her with the condom, but he was apparently only slowing her down, she grabbed his hands with one hand and held them against the headboard as she slid the condom on with her other. She positioned herself and slid down on him, she let out a little gasp and he wanted to hear that gasp every moment of every day, he wanted to hear that gasp as his _ringtone_. He moaned with her, trying his best not to drown out the little whimper she made as she shifted and settled. 

She rocked her hips experimentally as he tried to figure out why she was so damn _wet_ he hadn’t even used any of his recently discovered amazing foreplay moves (let it be known that foreplay was his new favorite thing, well second favorite thing to do). The best he could figure is that she’d woken up just as turned on as he did. She rocked her hips again, and apparently decided on the pace they were going for that morning. They were back to rough and quick, which Leo was a hundred percent okay with. 

He arched his back, grinding up into her which caused her to moan and drop her head down, she let go of his hands to brace herself against his shoulder, and instantly he went to help her, his hands wrapping around her hips to help her set the pace. He was happy he was the one laying down, because he didn’t know if he’d have the endurance to keep up with with her otherwise, he made a mental note to go to the gym more often. 

Her noises went between little huffs and sighs to moans, and he knew she wasn’t going to last long either. He tried to shift his hand to where they were joined, to make sure she didn’t last long, but instead she just grabbed his hand and shifted it to her boob. He didn’t question it, instead he stroked her nipple with his thumb, and relished the fact that the most amazing woman he’s ever met was riding him like they were in the kentucky derby and insisting that he grope her. 

Her sighs turned into his name, and he groaned, slamming upwards as she rocked down on him. Piper had once told him that being with her mate was like being shot through with electricity in the best possible way. Leo thought it was more like he was slowly but surely being set on fire, the warmth building up in his stomach and spreading to wherever Calypso touched him, before he could feel the fire in his fingers and his toes and in every cell of his being.

Calypso dropped down, her head hitting his shoulder as she tightened around him, she screamed his name into shoulder. Between the smug satisfaction of making her come first, _again_ and the way she tightened around him, he wasn’t far behind, moaning her name back to her in the long curtain of cinnamon hair. 

They lay there for a second, panting into each other’s personal space, which- Leo dimmly realized- was now their personal space. 

“Did you know-” he sucked in a breath, struggling to get his heart to level out-” That you’re super bossy in bed?”

Calypso sat up, causing Leo to whimper, he was soft inside her, his junk trying desperately hard to rise to a second occasion. She raised an eyebrow up at him. 

“It’s awesome and I love it,” His phone blared to life next to him, “maybe if we ignore it, it’ll go away.”

“It’s your alarm-”

“Yeah, hit snooze then it’ll go away-” she leaned over taking care of his cell as he took the condom off and leaned to throw it out. He settled back into the pillows, looking at Calypso who was smiling at his phone. “What?”

“Your background is a photo of me-” she turned the phone to show him the photo he’d stolen off instagram. She was wearing one of her long dresses and his coat, looking happy on the blue line. 

“Yeah, well,” her background was a photo of a river, the lockscreen was a bridge. He didn’t try to think too much of it. 

“You’re not worried about someone stealing your phone and alerting the press?” A light switch went on in his head, and he was suddenly happy that he wasn’t the kind of guy who asked for nudes. 

“Honestly it never occurred to me until just now. Has that happened to you?” He took his phone back, the lock screen showed the messy selfie he took at Lolla of the whole band fam. 

“A few times,” she shrugged, “I don’t know, I’m always paranoid about my nudes getting leaked-”

“Wait, do you have nudes because-”

“No, I don’t want the world to see me naked, everyone already thinks I’m a slut-”

“I don’t think you’re a slut.”

“Yeah well you knew I’m a virgin-”

“Okay, I hate to break it to you, but we literally just had sex.”

“No I mean, I was a virgin last night-” Calypso paused, looking at Leo who looked mainly perplexed, “I mean I told you that right? You were all sweet and nice.”

“I’m always sweet and nice-” At Calypso’s look he hurried to amend it, “okay most of the time I’m sweet and nice. But I had no idea-”

His mind scrambled back to the night before, where he’d mostly followed her lead, and she didn’t seem to be in pain at any point “Wait isn’t that supposed to hurt the first time for- I have so many questions.”

“Wait you thought I wasn’t?” She sounded hurt, so Leo scrambled to explain. 

“I didn’t care- I mean, obviously I care about you, but I honestly did not care about your past sex life. If you had banged every dude in Europe, or if you’d been in a monastery until the show, I still wouldn’t care. I just cared about us and I was just following your lead.” He tried to think for a moment, because it was coming out all wrong, “if you had brought it up or wanted to talk about it, I would’ve gotten that, but I got the feeling you didn’t like talking about your exes or your past romantically speaking. So I didn’t want to ask and invade your privacy I guess. I’m mostly just amazed that you knew what you were doing, because I had no clue.”

“Well I’ve done some stuff-” she looked uncomfortable. 

“Listen, we don’t have to talk about if you don’t want to, or we can save it for another day,” at her wide smile he knew he’d managed to recover, “besides, I love you and soon I’m going to be getting on a jet plane to head to Florida. I’d rather spend the few minutes we have left convincing you to take a shower with me.” 

He shot a look at his bookbag by the pile of clothes by the door, “at least I don’t have to pack before I leave.” 

Calypso was just smiling widely at him, she grabbed him by the ears (which he kind of loved) and pulled him into a kiss much more reminiscent of their first kiss. She pulled him away, and grinned at him, “I love you, and I think before you go we should show off our tats.”

He smiled, “sounds like a plan.”

_________

When he got to the backstage of the show, Percy was introducing the band and caught sight of him out of the corner of his eye. He muttered into the microphone for the whole audience to hear, “Oh thank the gods.”

Leo pulled on Festus, the crew quickly scrambling to get him hooked up as Percy pulled his bass off his shoulder, propping it up against the piano as he did so, “You guys, I used to play bass, but it’s been so long and I’d rather just sing. I’m a better singer then bass player.” 

He was talking to a sea of people, but he managed to say it as if he was confessing something to his best friend. 

“Let’s welcome Leo Valdez back to the stage,” there was a roar of applause as Leo stepped out, waving. He turned to wave to the rest of the band when he saw what one of the screens was holding. It wasn’t a better view of the band for the people in nosebleeds, it was the photo he’d taken with Calypso a few hours before. When they were in the backseat of a cab on the way to the airport, running late. He’d snapped the quick selfie of him grinning and holding his arm at an awkward angle to show off Calypso’s name, Calypso’s arm at a similar angle, showing off his as Calypso smiled a wide and honest smile up at him. He posted it as the plane bussed and by the time he landed, it was his highest liked and commented photo. 

“Seriously?” Leo said into his mic, smiling even as he tried to sound disapproving. 

“We’ve kept the secret as long as we could.” Percy shot back, “we’re celebrating being able to tell our fans everything.”

“Well not everything,“ Leo said with a shit eating grin. 

“ONE TWO THREE-” Jason shouted to Hazel and Nico, all of whom leapt into the intro. Leo played along effortlessly, leaning forward to check the set list before returning to his usual position. 

For the rest of the show, he kept casting glances at the photo, smiling because on his phone there was another photo, of Calypso and Leo kissing in the very same cab, her arms around him and an edge of a smile on both of their lips. And that photo was just for them.

**Author's Note:**

> "I'm never going to write smut again!" hahahhahahahahahha. so. Yeah. There's smut. 
> 
> This is by far my favorite of the five, I love the idea of Leo wanting to protect Calypso from the rest of the world but wanting to get into musical pissing matches. And poor Calypso always thought she'd meet the lead singer of a band and settle down or something of that ilk and she ends up soulmates with the bassist from her ex's band. I HAD TOO MUCH FUN WITH THIS ONE.


End file.
